WASHINGTON — President Obama came under strong criticism yesterday for leaving the door open to the prosecution of Bush administration officials who authorized severe CIA interrogations.
Obama’s decision last Thursday to release classified memos detailing aggressive techniques on terrorism suspects, including waterboarding, has triggered a political firestorm.
Karl Rove, who was a top aide to former President George W. Bush, accused Obama of seeking to conduct “show trials” a day after the president left open the possibility of prosecuting officials who provided legal analysis of interrogation procedures.
“If the Obama administration insists on criminalizing policy disagreements, how can they place any limits on who they prosecute?” Rove said.
“Everyone in the interrogation process would have to be treated the same,” he said, including CIA agents, physicians who monitored interrogations, and lawyers who wrote memos.